Arranging a cremation

A funeral can only usually take place after you have registered the death. Most people use a funeral director to help them arrange the funeral, but you can arrange the funeral yourself.

We can only discuss the details of the cremation and service with the funeral director and the person arranging the funeral.

To arrange a cremation and service at Chelmsford Crematorium, you need to complete all of the relevant paperwork.

Your funeral director will be able to fill in the paperwork with you.

The paperwork includes:

medical papers

the Service and Crematorium Details (including what will happen to the cremated remains)

the Music and Hymns Form

The service

Services at Chelmsford Crematorium can be religious, non-religious or humanist, or you may choose not to have a service at all. You can check our fees and charges for the cost of each service.

Services are held in one of two chapels. The North Chapel has 26 seats, or the South Chapel which has 108 seats.

You can check the availability of the chapels by looking at the calendar of services. You will also need to check the availability of your funeral director.

Your funeral director will guide you through options for the service, including:

choosing the music you would likeWe can play recorded music in both chapels using the Wesley Music System. You can view thelibrary of available tracks onlineIf your choice is not already in the library, your funeral director can request commercially available music to be added.Additionally, both chapels have an electric organ. Your funeral director will need to provide the organist for your service.

creating a visual tribute, including personal photographsThis is only available in the South Chapel, and you will have to pay an additional fee.

broadcasting the service securely over the internet, for those who are unable to attend the service in personYou will have to pay an additional fee to arrange this.

recording the service onto USB storageYou will have to pay an additional fee to arrange this.

After the service, you will be able to visit the floral tribute area.

We collect all floral tributes at 8am each Monday morning. This includes floral tributes from all services which have taken place in the previous week.

After the cremation

The Service and Crematorium Details form will ask you to consider what you would like to happen to the cremated remains following the cremation.

You can ask us to:

temporarily store the cremated remains at the Crematorium. If we do not receive instructions after one month following the cremation, we will contact you for your decision

make the cremated remains available for you or your funeral director to collect

inter the cremated remains in the North Lawn, which is an unmarked area

inter the cremated remains in the Garden of Remembrance, with a memorial